CECILIA: The Faint Emission Line Spectrum of z~2-3 Star-forming Galaxies

Abstract

We present the first results from CECILIA, a Cycle 1 JWST NIRSpec/MSA program that uses ultra-deep ~30 hour G235M/F170LP observations to target multiple electron temperature-sensitive auroral lines in the spectra of 33 galaxies at z~1-3. Using a subset of 23 galaxies, we construct two ~600 object-hour composite spectra, both with and without the stellar continuum, and use these to investigate the characteristic rest-optical (5700-8500 Angstrom) spectrum of star-forming galaxies at the peak epoch of cosmic star formation. Emission lines of eight different elements (H, He, N, O, Si, S, Ar, and Ni) are detected, with most of these features observed to be <3% the strength of H-alpha. We report the characteristic strength of three auroral lines ([NII]5756, [SIII]6313, and [OII]7322,7332), as well as other semi-strong and faint emission lines, including forbidden [NiII]7380,7414 and the OI 8449 recombination line, some of which have never before been observed outside of the local universe. Using these measurements, we find T_e[NII]=13630+/-2540 K, representing the first measurement of electron temperature using [NII] in the high-redshift universe. We also see evidence for broad line emission with a FWHM of ~536 km/s; the broad component of H-alpha is 6.01-28.31% the strength of the narrow component and likely arises from star-formation driven outflows. Finally, we briefly comment on the feasibility of obtaining large samples of faint emission lines using JWST in the future.

Published in ApJL in November 2023

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